Kings Island and...Tornadoes!?!?

[SOB_TOM]

But that is not unusual. In fact, like it was stated earlier, lightening strikes at theme parks are quite common.

Tom, who has renamed one ride "The giant lightening rod."

[coaster_junky]

^i understand that, but it would be neat to see the web-cam lit up by lighting hitting Diamondback.(as long as it doesn't hurt it in anyway)

[Diamondback96]

But looking at what happened to Kingda Ka...

[The Interpreter]

And Top Thrill Dragster the night before its media day. What's your point?

[Diamondback96]

I'm pretty sure Kingda Ka is still down.

It probably depends on how bad the lightning was. And I'm hearing it was pretty bad.But Diamondback is running fine, because we would've already heard about it. Besides, CF would have gotten it back up quickly.

[The Interpreter]

You are incorrect. Kingda Ka ran all day yesterday and today...

INTAMIN strove with Six Flags to make that happen, just as they did with Cedar Fair to get Millennium Force back up....

[Diamondback96]

Well, KK was down for a lot longer than MF.

[The Interpreter]

Millennium Force did not get struck by lightning this time around. Much was required to get Kingda Ka and Millennium Force back up, much more than most here will ever know, much less care about.

ALL parks want to get their signature attractions back up as quickly as possible. Lightning can and does hit just about anywhere. Especially when attractions are 420 or 456 feet tall....

[BavarianBeatle]

The only ride I ever saw get hit by lightning was SoB. Apparently it did no damage because it opened again with no problem after the storm, but the kids were amazed by the sparks that flew and that the lightning looked orange...... I told them that the sound wave of the thunder that you hear traveling away from you when you are very close to a lightning strike is like firing a shotgun. I'm sure that all of the tall rides have proper lightning rods and are well protected!

[violakat03]

I heard and saw the aftermath of Drop Tower getting hit by lightning on Memorial Day weekend in 2003. I was in the waterpark and heard an unusually large burst of thunder. Myself and the rest of the employees walked to the edge of our store to look out and around to see if something was hit, and several people were exclaiming that it had hit Drop Zone.

The ride was down for the next 2 days.

Also of note that day, the wind was incredibly fierce and knocked down the "Welcome to Lebanon" sign on 741. Myself and a co-worker were driving home because the waterpark shut down early, and when we saw (and felt!) how bad it was, we took shelter at a Skyline Chili, which had no power. We stayed there until the storm died down a bit because the wind had been pushing my car all over the road. It hailed and gusted wind and did all kinds of nasty stuff. At one point, they even took us (since we were the only non-employees there) into the back area to keep us away from the windows since there was debris flying.

This was also the day I learned about Paramount's tornado shelter policy for parkgoers. Which was "sucks to be them."

[XGatorHead 8904]

^That's funny, because I was also at the park that day with my younger brother for the Sharon, Lois, and Bram concert at T-Wolf. We were in the Paramount Theatre(? Or was it the American Heritage then, anyways....) when the weather hit and actually knocked out power in the theatre for a few seconds. After a quick phone call they went on with the show, but it was eerie when we went outside and nothing was running yet.

I thought I remember hearing on the news that night, that there was a very weak tornado that hit near the park, but I wasn't sure, and since I couldn't find any more information about it, I thought I would shy away from posting it....but I was there that day as well!

And just for the fun of it for people who don't know who the group was......and boy is this embarssing to know that I went to this concert (even though it was for my younger brother!)

OK, how do I put this? Um, it really scares me that you two are actually young enough to have gone to a Sharon, Lois and Bram show then, especially considering I was working at the park at the time. And come on, admit it, you weren't just there for your brother!

This was also the day I learned about Paramount's tornado shelter policy for parkgoers. Which was "sucks to be them."

And I can't let this go uncorrected. That was most definitely NOT Paramount's policy. When I was in management, we made it very clear to our associates during training that in the event of severe weather they needed to direct guests to the nearest shelter, which for us at the front gate was the basement of the season pass building.

I know you worked in the waterpark, which is very sparse in it's shelter areas. If your managers or supervisors gave you the impression that the park's policy was to have the guests fend for themselves, they couldn't have been more wrong. Why would that be the policy? Just think of the legal nightmares that would have caused if someone had been hurt or killed because the park failed to provide adequate shelter in the event of a tornado. All areas of the park have a designated shelter that the associates are to direct guests to. This is true under Cedar Fair, was true under Paramount, American Financial, KECO, and probably before then. If this wasn't covered in your training or stressed to the associates in your area, that was extremely irresponsible of your supervisors.

I'm not one to blindly defend Paramount but I will defend them on this.

In the pre-Paramount days, there was one time (this was in 1990 or '91 when I worked Rivertown Karts) where I had finished my shift and went home. A bad storm came through the park that evening. The next day, the people that had worked the night before told me that they had to go to the nearest tornado shelter, which was the walk-in at Columbia Palace (now Rivertown Junction). Luckily, in my 17 years at the park, I somehow managed to never have to seek shelter. Amazing, considering how many hours of my life have been spent there!

[violakat03]

In waterpark merch (which is a very unique department to work for, it operates dramatically differently than any other store in the park) our directions were to assist in getting all guests out of the waterpark, either into the main park or leave the park all together, and then head for the limited shelters ourselves. We were not supposed to direct them into any of the shelters inside the waterpark because there was barely enough space just for the employees. The basic impression given to us was get them out of our area and then they aren't our problem anymore.

Because of this policy, we were also to direct guests out of our stores if it started storming at all to prevent us having to spend a lot of time evacuating. The crowds tended to cluster just inside the overhangs and we were supposed to ask them to continue on to the main park if they were not there to shop.

Since we were supposed to clear the waterpark, they were pretty much screwed until they got into main park or were met along the path by main park employees.

They were honestly pretty good about shutting the water park down during inclement weather to help the flow of traffic out of the waterpark and into the main park. But yeah, our policy out there was let someone else deal with them! The day I referred to was the only day I worked there that we actively cleared the park and were instructed to not point them towards shelters in the waterpark, but to get them to the main park and then get ourselves to shelter if necessary. I'm sure had worse come to worse, we'd have found ourselves sharing with the stragglers.

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